Tag: Gary Wilson

Drs. Benoit and Wilson have long had a love affair with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) spores and their study. Their many papers on the subject have often centered on a germination assay that follows the conversion of dormant and resistant spores back to vegetative growth. The assay is based on watching a change in the optical density (absorbance) of spores using a spectrophotometer. It is fast and easy and dependable. At least it was until about 12 years ago when that assay, for some reason, stopped working.

The first indication something was wrong came in the form of an email from a researcher in New Zealand in the fall of 2001. The graduate student was studying Bt germination and ran into difficulty replicating the results Wilson and Benoit had reported. The email simply asked Dr. Wilson whether there were any special tricks involved in the assay. Since neither Wilson or Benoit was involved in research due to administrative responsibilities at the time and had not experienced similar problems, they had no advice to offer.

Fast forward a few years to the creation of the BIMS program and a new graduation requirement that every student must participate in capstone research, an Honors project, or an internship. The department needed research ideas, and Benoit and Wilson resurrected the germination assay as a means to engage students in studying new aspects of spores physiology. The number of unique projects this system would provide for future students was enormous. But the assay failed to work. Even with new facilities and new resources to support research, several student projects failed to recreate results from earlier papers. Nothing in the literature and no one in the field had an answer.

This summer, Honors student Heather Rawls became the most recent student to attempt the assay. Through the summer she tried differences in media, growth temperature, ways of collecting and processing spores, water quality being used, activation techniques, a variety of germinants, and at least five different spectrophotometers with no predictability or consistency in the results. If anything, fewer and fewer spores were germinating with each attempt.

In August, Heather and Dr. Wilson had a research pow wow and developed an alternate project for her Honors thesis. Time was running out to complete her research before starting the writing, and moving to something with a higher probability for success was needed. But Heather wasn’t ready to give up that easily. At an impromptu meeting a couple of weeks ago, a new thought emerged when it seemed every variable possible already had been tested. Glassware! In their graduate programs and during their prior research using the assay, Benoit and Wilson always collected the spores in glass containers and the germinants and all other chemicals used had been stored in glass containers. In our growing emphasis on research, McMurry had improved the funding of science programs so much that the use of disposable plastics was now the norm. Maybe the plastic centrifuge tubes used to collect spores and store germinants were coated with something inhibiting spore germination? Maybe some chemical was leaching out of the plastic?

Over the last two weeks, Heather switched to glassware for collecting spores and making reagents. Her results were dramatically different. We now are certain plasticware has an inhibitory effect on germination. A decade of frustration was caused by our affluence and the use of disposable labware rather than old-school glass.

With a working assay, Heather will turn back to the project she intended to complete this summer looking at the germination of a variety of genetically-engineered and wildtype strains of Bacilli. Another Honors student just beginning her work will investigate what the mystery chemical from the plastics might be and how it inhibits germination, or the range of spore-forming species affected. One mystery is solved, more are uncovered…

BIMS Honors students prove to us on a daily basis that they are among the best thinkers and hardest workers on campus. This commitment to uncovering the truth is what will drive them to become leaders in biomedical science and healthcare provision in the future.

Recently, three BIMS majors found out they will receive Bloomer and Beasley Research Fellowships for the coming year. All three are students of Dr. Gary Wilson and will be pursuing different projects investigating Bacillus thuringiensis spore properties as they pursue Honors research and write their Honors theses in the next year.

The Charles and Lisa Bloomer Research Fellowship is awarded to support research of promising students in the School of Natural and Computational Science (SNCS). This initiative of the Science and Math Advisory Board (SMAB) provides a research stipend for students as they work closely with McMurry faculty on a research project. Dr. Bloomer is a successful oral surgeon in Abilene who has generously and regularly supported the sciences at his alma mater. The biennial picnic the Bloomers host for SMAB members and SNCS faculty is a popular event building relationships and communicating the vision each holds for McMurry’s science future. The Beasley Research Fellowship is a new program supporting student research in the biological sciences. McMurry’s science alumni are spearheading an effort to create an endowment in memory of Dr. Clark Beasley, Distinguished Professor Emeritus from the Department of Biology who died this past summer. This represents the first year this fellowship has been awarded.

Recipients of this year’s awards are Heather Rawls, Miranda Nguyen, and Nicole McGunegle. Their projects will study wild type and genetically-engineered strains of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and Bacillus cereus (Bc) grown in rich and poor media. Bt is a spore-former that produces an insecticidal toxin at the time of sporulation. Bc is a commonly encountered and well-studied spore-former closely related to Bt but generally harmless. The genetically-engineered strains include Bt strains that do not form crystals and Bc strains that have been engineered to produce Bt crystals. One project will look at how the presence or absence of the crystal in rich and poor media influences spore and crystal size and toxicity. A second project will look at how growth conditions impact spore dormancy and the process of activation and germination. It is possible an undiscovered variation of quorum sensing might be involved. The third project will explore UV and chemical resistance of wild type and genetically-engineered strains produced in rich and poor media. All projects fit the criteria for BIMS research: a complete project doable in a short time frame, certain discovery no matter the experimental outcome, publishable work.

Recently, our family celebrated the marriage of our older son to a beautiful and talented young lady. When plans were being formed, they surprised us with one aspect of the reception that we could never have predicted – they wanted to square dance. It seems square dancing was featured at an event they attended while in college and the experience was so much fun that they wanted to make it a part of their wedding celebration. As much as we all were skeptical, they were RIGHT! We all had a great time.

I mention this because square dancing requires a few talents and skills that our BIMS program will be needing in the coming year. First, you have to be a good listener and thinker. Second, you have to be light on your feet. As the Caller directs the dancers through some tricky moves, so the BIMS program is going to have to direct its students through some tricky times.

The reason? Two of our BIMS faculty will be on sabbatical during the coming academic year. Dr. Wilson will be out during the fall semester, and Dr. Benoit will be out for the spring. They are working together on a project to develop a microbiology course for nursing majors that can be taught totally online. Wilson will create a lab that is part simulation, part field trips, part “kitchen micro”. Benoit will create over 100 20-minute lectures/activities to teach the content for the lecture portion of the course.

So in the same way that a square dancer has to be a great listener and thinker and light on their feet, the BIMS program is going to have to exhibit those skills as it adapts its course offerings and content to provide all BIMS curriculum over the two short-handed semesters. We have studied the progress of our BIMS majors and have been listening to what students want in the coming year. We have been thinking about appropriate substitutions from departments across campus. And we have started being “light on our feet” as we adapt what we will be doing during the year for our BIMS students.